ONS Labour Market Survey July 17th

For the three months ending May 2018, the highest employment rate in the UK was in the South West (79.2%) and the lowest was in Northern Ireland (69.8%).

For the three months ending May 2018, the highest unemployment rate in the UK was in London (5.1%) and the lowest was in the South West (3.2%).

For the three months ending May 2018, the highest economic inactivity rate in the UK was in Northern Ireland (27.5%) and the lowest was in the South West (18.1%).

Between December 2017 and March 2018, the largest increase in workforce jobs in the UK was in the West Midlands at 64,000, whilst the largest decrease was in the South East at 47,000.

In March 2018, the region with the highest proportion of workforce jobs in the services sector was London at 91.3%, which has increased by 0.5 percentage points since December 2017, whilst the East Midlands had the highest proportion of jobs in the production sector at 13.8%.

The highest average actual weekly hours worked, for the 12 months ending March 2018, was in London at 33.5 hours and the lowest was in the South West at 31.1 hours; for full-time and part-time workers, it was highest in Northern Ireland, at 38.3 hours and 17.4 hours respectively.

Image: Frances O’Grady

Commenting on today’s (Tuesday) labour market statistics from the Office for National Statistics – which show that nominal wage growth is down for the second month in a row and real wage growth has also fallen – TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“Wage growth has slowed again. Boosting pay packets should be a priority for the government, but ministers are failing to act.

“We need to get the economy moving again. The government should put the minimum wage up to £10 and give all public servants a proper pay rise.

“Unions are fighting hard to get workers up and down the UK decent pay rises – and anyone wanting a pay rise should join a union. But the government should also give unions the right to go into every workplace and negotiate with employers for fair pay rises.”

However commenting on today’s labour market figures, senior ONS statistician Matt Hughes said:
       
“We’ve had yet another record employment rate, while the number of job vacancies is also a new record. From this it’s clear that the labour market is still growing strongly. Meanwhile real earnings remain modestly up on the year, both including and excluding bonuses.”

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